Travel Blogs from Java, Indonesia

... comfortable, with worn out seats and every available space filled with peoples stuff. The ears take a bashing with continuous overloud Indonesia-vision song contest like music blaring out of the stereo.
We had a verygood driver and the only dangerous ...

... , cold shower and sometimes a shared bathroom. Standards vary widely but it has been getting better the further east we go. In Indonesia it seems that you have to pay an entry fee to almost everything, beaches, temples, volcanoes etc. Also you usually pay ...

... and incredibly time consuming. (Beware! Fast approaching facts).
The fourth most populous nation in the world, Indonesia has a population of 232 million. Java, the most fertile island, contains 128 million, and is about half the size of the UK, so you ...

... 6 in the morning) to sort our tickets and get on the train to Yogyakarta. We're sad to leave Jakarta after not exploring it. Indonesia seems to have to many awesome places so were trying to pick and chose wisely. Oh and we're millionaires now after ...

Just a quick note about Jakarta.
I was originally going to come to the Indonesian city, however due to news reports about flooding I decided to spend more time in Yogya.
An over night bus ride and we arrived in Jakarta with no problems, In fact i ...

... . The sea has been relatively calm and there's been very little rain. Today we worked our way through the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java so we're now in the Indian Ocean. Jess told me that when the sea gets up and everyone is being sick from ...

... eats with me. This may have something to do with my mangling of their language in my attempt to learn a bit of Bahasa Indonesia. However, Sasha the German shepard is my constant companion. Its awesome to have a big dog like her around to play with. ...

Hello world citizens,
I'm back in Jakarta for a month to do some research for the Centre for Strategic and International Studies www.csis.or.id I have realized that after August 13th, when Scott goes back to Taiwan after our travels in Thailand ...

... you may never have seen a photo, just heard the name. It's a catchy name - Borobudur.
After we'd arrived in Indonesia I got a letter from my mom asking if we were going to Borobudur. We must go to Borobudur, she said. I didn't ...

A big 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the north-west coast of Java while I was on the train to Jakarta this morning. Apparently a Tsunami warning was issued but later recalled. I was completely oblivious until I received at a text message from my ...

... city.
Day 181 - 20/08/08
First day of sight seeing in Yogyakarta today. The city is one of the cultural capitals of Java so there're some interesting sites and traditional arts to see in the city.
I woke up early as planned and walked from Sosro, ...

... of Bromo was hiding the fourth volcano from view, we could now see the huge purple volcano (the largest and most active in Java) that seemed to complete the landscape. There was some mist in the crater, although not as much as yesterday, and the ...

Yogyakarta is pronounced Jogjakarta, and that's how it's spelled in Indonesia. I have no idea why we spell it with a Y. It's also the cultural capital of Java, and an excellent jumping off point for Borobudur.
Our excursions in Yogya ...

... for their project--and if anyone reads this blog post, you should look up Borobudur, and seriously consider visiting it (and Indonesia!) someday. That was only our first 9th-century temple of the day, however. After a brief stop at Mount Merapi, a ...

... with two excellent guys trekking independently (Manuel from France and Mike from Switzerland - there are a lot of Europeans travelling around Java), before exploring the inside and opposing side of the rim. By lunchtime I made it back - sweaty, covered ...

... coins and he doesn't fare so well.
Surabaya, with a population of 2.4 million is the second largest city in Indonesia, and the capital of East Java. It also has an enormous port and is home to the Indonesia Navy.
Near the harbour there are scores of ...

... the next day to see some temples, but first he had to drop us off in Yogyakarta !!! Yogyakarta is an autonomous ruled city in Indonesia. Even though the country has a president, this place has a Sultan but does not have any real power as such, and whilst ...

... from Sydney we arrived at the airport in jakarta, Indonesia's capital city. At the airport were huge signs saying "Welcome to Indonesia, death penalty for drug smugglers" and immigration officers who stamped us in for 60 days, no questions asked. We ...

... top of the temple a party of teenage kids were on a school trip, and like on many occasions while I've been travelling in Indonesia, people want to have a photo taken with you, of course this doesn't just happen to me but with many westerners. So I posed ...

Now if it wasn't for Borobudur being such a huge site on it's own, another World Heritage site, Prambanan would be widely known, but then again, before I visited Borobudur, how many of you knew of it? To be honest, I knew about Borobudur but I had no ...

Arrived safe & sound in Jakarta, Indonesia.. Though I can't say the flight from Taipei to Jakarta was as pleasant as the last one into Taipei. It was a madhouse getting on the plane, shoving and pushing, and it only got worse once we were ...

... in Jakarta, not counting my time in Ujong Kulon. I did quite a bit and these are some of the highlights:
Museum of Indonesia: very large collection. Closes very early (1330 sometimes) so be there in the morning.
National Monument (Monas): It was ...

Introduction Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia and the largest city in Southeast Asia. The city is predominantly of Muslim faith & there are many many mosques dotted around only a few hundred metres apart from each other. The city is a mixture of ...

... spectacular on top, we also had fun with the locals again.
Now I dont really understand why people dont travel through Indonesia, maybe the bomb in Bali has effected this, but at the temple was us and another two western looking blokes and heaps of ...

... to the top of Mt. Pananjakan (2707m) THE place to see the sunrise over Mt. Semuru, the highest mountain/volcano in Java, and the sulphur volcano of Mt. Bromo. Nature provided instant postcard material. I became a tourist attraction myself as all the ...

... luggage for me while away. The room was 40,000 with tax including one meal. I was very lucky to find a Chinese-Indonesia family from Jakarta staying there. The daughter was a school teacher with very good English and she explained to the manager ...

... temple had been completed !!! Actually, it was quite amusing as he also took the piss out of the Malaysians stating that Indonesia was far better than their neigbours, it kind of reminded me of the happy banter that happens between Aussies and Kiwis !!! ...